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Your very first flight instructor will have huge impact on your learning, that is why it’s important to find one who can make the training process pleasant, organized and worth all the time, effort and money you will be putting into it. 

If becoming a pilot is your dream, here are some tips on how to choose the flight instructor who will best fit your needs:

1. Your Flight Instructor Must Be Qualified

Your flight instructor became one because he or she earned some advanced pilot certificates. That means that they hold either a commercial pilot certificate or an airline transport pilot (ATP) certificate in order to instruct. Furthermore, they can’t teach unless they have a certificated (not certified) flight instructor (CFI) rating.  Look for this with your primary flight instructor. They might also have an Instrument Rating and Multi-engine Rating as well, all the better. If you are learning a specific type of flying like tail-dragger and float plane, they will have had training in those areas and endorsements to prove it.

If you are trying to earn your instrument rating, your CFI, on the other hand, must have received their instrument instruction rating or CFI-I. If you are going for a multi-engine rating, besides your instructor having a multi-engine rating with commercial privileges, they must also have a multi-engine instructor rating or MEI.

If you take flight instructing from anyone other than an authorized flight instructor, you will not be able to claim those hours towards the required hours you will need to get your certificate or rating that you are aspiring to. In other words, all your training hours and the cost that went with it will be for nothing.

2. Test Fly Your CFI

It’s a good idea to go with a potential flight instructor during a routine flight to observe how they fly and the way they teach.  Most of them will offer an introductory Discovery Flight anyway, so take advantage of the chance and see for yourself. If there is anything you don’t particularly like about the flight instructor you just flew with, listen to yourself and consider finding either a different school to fly at or finding a different CFI at that school.

Furthermore, if after a few lessons, you feel like that CFI isn’t really working for you, tell them so and ask them (or the chief pilot) to reassign you to a different flight instructor. It has to be a win-win situation with your CFI. If you don’t like your CFI or they don’t like you, (which a good CFI should NEVER express), then move on to a new instructor.

Like any investment, you are going to be spending a lot of money and time and effort with this person, so you have to be sure that it will be money well spent. Flying is fun and learning to fly should be fun too. In other words, don’t suffer through a bad instructor!

 

3. Is Your CFI Interested In Your Success or Just Building Hours?

This is one of those unfortunate aspects of flying and flight instructors. As you may or may not know, the only way a flight instructor can get with an airline or move on to charter flying is to have the required flight hours. I have seen it more than once, and it always gets me upset, but some CFI’s will either fly their students too much or too long in order to build those required hours. Watch out for this! Your flight instructor should have a genuine interest in helping you reach your goal and you should feel comfortable with their teaching style. 

However, they don’t have to be extra amiable to be the best choice. You want a flight instructor who will expect excellence, discipline and hard work. You want an instructor that won’t cut corners in what they expect of you and that includes being prepare when you show up for a lesson. If they are too lax and you’re undisciplined, you might have some problems with learning effectively and you will certainly be wasting your time and money.

4. Required Flight Documentation

There is no point of getting any training in aviation if your flight instructor or the school doesn’t keep accurate records.  Documents will prove the type of training you have undergone and how many hours you have put in.  You’ll need to fly a minimum number of hours to get your pilot’s license and if these can’t be corroborated, you might be forced to repeat your training. As I mentioned in another blog entries, you will be in either a Part 61 or Part 141 school. If you are in a Part 61 school, make sure that your flight instructor fills out your logbook after every flight. They must include the maneuvers and procedures that you worked on plus they must include their signature, their CFI number, and when their CFI expires. After they have written in your logbook take a minute to look it over and see if you agree with everything they wrote.

If you are in a Part 141 school, the logbook entry still applies but they have other information that they must fill out as well. Don’t leave without them filling it out and you verifying the entries.

Finally, save your receipts and put them away where you can find them. Then go home and enter your hours into your computer using your electronic logbook. It is a great backup and you can see how you are progressing towards your rating or certificate. Here is my recommendation for an electronic logbook: Logbook Pro Pilot Logbook Software. It is a free download that you can try out for free today! Do this now!

 

5. Where Can You Find a Good Flight Instructor?

If you live near an airport, check the yellow pages or the Internet, call them up and ask to speak to a flight instructor or better yet, hop in your car and drive there and meet one. Then, sign-up and take a Discovery Flight. As soon as you are done with that, head over to Barnes and Noble and pick up AOPA’s “Flight Training” magazine and devour it! If your interest is still there…and I know it will be…see if the flight school offers some ground school classes taught at their school. Or check with your local community college as well. You can also pick up a home-study course and study for your Private Pilot license using the recommended courses below:

• Jeppesen GFD Private Pilot Kit – Part 61 – A comprehensive kit for private pilots in Part 61 training.
• ASA Private Pilot Test Prep Book- Private certificates for airplane, helicopter, gyroplane, glider, free balloon and airship.
• Gleim Private Pilot Written Exam Guide – One of the easiest, fastest, and least expensive means of passing the FAA Private Pilot – Airplane knowledge test

Note: After you complete the home-study course, you will have to have a CFI verify that your training is complete but that is no big deal. All you have to do is print off the form and present it to a flight instructor and they will sign it off.

Finally, flight academies like FlightSafety Academy or AriBen Aviator also often put ads in the all the different flying magazines, so either call them, write them, or request information through their website, so you check those out, too.

So? Are you excited?

It really is that easy to get to started towards fulfilling your dream of flying an airplane, but it is up to you to take the first step! I recommend that you take one small step today and either visit a flight school in your local area or send off for some information.

Let me know how it goes!

To Your Flying Success…

Jeffrey